The Hawk And The Dove!

A comic for a our times, ripped from the headlines of the day. The Hawk and The Dove was a curious piece by Charlton alumni Steve Skeates and Steve Ditko, a tale of two brothers caught in a struggle which was at that time both private and public. The United States warred with itself about the war, the Vietnam War (we just called it "the War" back then) about the validity of it and even more about the sacrifice of life for a cause which seemed abstract and remote. We fight today across the globe, but because we don't demand the that the youth of our time commit to that struggle, we are able to glide along calm cool and collected that others will do the fighting we deem necessary. It's an eternal debate, not that war is a necessary evil, but that we need advocate evil here and at this time.

That was the battle between the brothers Hall. Hank was a "Hawk", an advocate for violent intervention and his brother Don was a "Dove", one who argued for peace in our time. They were split ideologically and when they were offered the chance to acquire the power to pursue their beliefs by the supernatural powers of Order and Chaos they do so, becoming two sides of a coin dedicated to justice. In the debut issue in particular, one can see Ditko's Objectivist philosophy informing the desire for logic and not passion to dictate society. 

According to reports, Steve Skeates wanted to show that both methods could reap justice and that Dove's peaceful approach was often as effective as Hawk's more aggressive approaches. But he claimed that editorial often switched it up so that Dove came across as not just regretful for violence but downright weak in the face of a threat. Instead of showing a balance between two attitudes, each with some measure of merit, it became in the eyes of Skeates a rejection of peace and a advocacy for violence.

Skeates worked with Gil Kane when Ditko left DC and after Skeates left the book, Kane wrote as well as drew it. After the book's cancellation Hawk and Dove became a sometimes part of the Teen Titans lore and many years later things changed even more, but that' s for another day.

For all their flaws these stories deserve a place on the modern bookshelf. It seems they have been collected in an enormous Teen Titans volume, but I'd love to see them available for a less impressive price in a more easily read tome. With work by giants of yore like Ditko and Kane and Cardy, it seems an easy bet to me.

Here are the covers.

Steve Ditko left the book after the second issue. He also left DC entirely after an all-too brief tenure. 

Gil Kane and inker Sal Trapani join forces with Steve Skeates to keep the series alive and running. To be honest I think Kane's more fluid version of the duo is actually more visually interesting than Ditko's. 

Gil Kane becomes both the writer and artist on the series. This issue was inked by Wally Wood. 

In an apparent attempt to help the Hawk and Dover comic gain traction with readers, the duo crossover with the Teen Titans both written and drawn by Neal Adams. 

After rescuing their dad from a kidnapper, the team question whether continuing as Hawk and Dove is a useful thing. This is the final issue. 

(All the early Hawk and Dover stories are contained in this handy paperback.)

(This collection only contains the three stories Ditko worked on.)

Rip Off

Ditko's Get Smart!

Get Smart was a spoof which had much fun at the expense of the super-spy fad of the 1960's which had been kicked off by the James Bond movies and television shows such as The Man from UNCLE and The Avengers. Agent 86 was Maxwell Smart, a clumsy secret agent portrayed by Don Adams. The show was a product of the minds of Mel Brooks and Buck Henry. As was their wont, Dell Comics attempted to adapt the successful series to comics. And during that brief run, two issues of the comic book were drawn by Steve Ditko. 
 

At the time Ditko was working with Sal Trapani who was arranging work for himself, Ditko and Dick  Giordano at various outlets, Dell being first and foremost among the publishers seeking talent. The trio had produced Nukla for Dell and now here was Ditko trying his hand at comedy as can be seen by the interior cover one-pager above. Get Smart was a very brief stop in Ditko's journey after he left behind his great Marvel work. I'm not aware that this material has ever been reprinted. I'd love to get hold of it at a reasonable price. 

Rip Off

Atomic Reactions - Nukla!

Nukla was one of Dell's unsuccessful attempts to tap the supehero trend of the 60's. Perhaps more than any other publisher, the folks at Dell seemed to lack all sympathy with the superhero concept, and so they mostly farmed out the few attempts they had to others, notably folks who often worked for Charlton. Nukla is the work of Sal Trapani, who along with his esteemed brother-in-law Dick Giordano and Steve Ditko fashioned the four issues of Nukla. Veteran writer Joe Gill was tapped to supply the scripts, a situation which is somewhat ironic since he along with Ditko had fashioned Captain Atom, the hero who Nukla is clearly based on.

To give Nukla a 60's cachet, he is C.I.A. agent Matt Gibbs, a U2 spy plane pilot,  fitting him directly into the political fabric of the age. He caught in a nuclear explosion and as usually happens in comics survives and in fact is transformed. Always preferring to wear his stylized pilot's uniform he gives off a vaguely military feel in the four issues of his comic which have him battle spies and maniacs across the globe. 

Rip Off

Showcase Corner - Metamorpho The Element Man!

Bob Haney's Metamorpho is an extremely fun superhero concept. Birthed at a time in comic history when fun was paramount in comics, on the cusp of DC's infamous "Go-Go Checks" era, Metamorpho is a mild satire of superheroes presenting a goofy hero, a former chiseled-chin A-personality and famed explorer named Rex Mason who due to a bizarre meteor and ancient pseudo-science becomes the "freak" Metamorpho, able to used the elements of his body to fashion all manner of things. He is a transformational wonder, able to become gas, liquid and all kinds of sturdier constructions limited only to the elements in the human body. And he's loved by the gorgeous Sapphire Stagg, the playgirl daughter of self-absorbed billionaire and scientist Simon Stagg who is Rex's employer. Add in a jealous revived caveman Java and you have the mix of main characters in a typical Metamorpho story. These are tales in which the villains have funny names and absurd motivations, but who pose a threat to the Staggs or the world or both. 

Metamorpho debuted in the pages of The Brave and the Bold, at a time when DC typically tried out new concepts in either that comic or Showcase. After a few issues by Haney and Ramona Fradon in which "The Element Man" is birthed and his basis scenario established he quickly is awarded his own magazine. One filled with a humor often absent from other more established DC offerings. 

I was struck reading Metamorpho this time how much this "E-Man" reminded me of another E-Man, one created for Charlton Comics by Nick Cuti and Joe Staton. Cuti always said that Plastic Man was the inspiration for E-Man and I have no reason to doubt him, but I wonder if Plas was not also the inspiration for Metamorpho - a zany shape-changing character in an even zanier world. 

One of the mild surprises reading this tome was how few issues of the original run Ramona Fradon actually drew. She certainly defined the character with his debut and earliest showings, but with the fifth issue of the run Joe Orlando stepped in to do the penciling honors. 

Orlando was gone by the seventh issue to be replaced on pencils by Sal Trapani. I'd not really heard of Trapani's connection to the character, but it turns out he penciled more issues of Metamorpho than did Fradon. The art though is amazingly consistent throughout most of the run and that's likely why I never tumbled to the fact Fradon was not on board for the whole trip. 

The reason for that artistic consistency is the inker Charles Paris. He inked Fradon, Orlando and he inked all but one of the Trapani issues for a total of seventeen Metamorpho adventures counting the two Brave and Bold appearances. Paris had been a longtime artist for DC working on Batman and other early projects like Crimson Avenger. He retired after his turn on Metamorpho, but his work on that series was definitive. 

The stories by Haney for Metamorpho were bizarre with wild villains, but the status quo takes a tumble when The Element Girl is introduced. Here appearance here is try-out and the editors seemingly leave it up to the fans to determine if she shall return. 

The Element Girl does indeed return and stays a part of the series right to the end. With her addition the romance between Rex Mason and Sapphire Stagg becomes a true triangle. Poor Java always imagines that Sapphire will fall for him, but he's obviously deluded. 

The Thunderer gives the Element Man all he can handle in a wild two-part tale as the series gets even more amped with a more frenetic style showing up. This is also the last issue that Paris inks. 

The status quo of the Metamorpho series takes a hit when Sapphire suddenly marries a rich playboy and the Element Man is recruited for his skills as explorer Rex Mason. We learn that there has been another Element Man in ages past and Metamorpho falls into the clutches of an ageless and ruthless queen who looks just like Sapphire. 

The seventeenth issue of Metamorpho is the final one and thanks to the art of Jack Sparling it looks nothing like the previous installments. Unfortunately the series ends abruptly with a mysterious figure having taken great pains to see to it that Metamorpho suffers by framing him for murder. The Element Man and the the Element Girl vow to be a team unto themselves, but alas we will never see what became of this alliance. 

The Showcase volume closes out with three guest-star appearances by Metamorpho. Alas these stories all occur early in the continuity of the series but are presented as extras at the end. I should have taken greater care and read them in continuity, but still they are fun outings. The two appearances in The Brave and the Bold bring Metamorpho in contact with the Metal Men (a similar concept) and Batman (the Bat-Hulk is a crazy idea). Both of these stories are written by Bob Haney. Haney didn't write the Justice League of America story, that fell to Gardner Fox. All three of these extra issues were drawn by Mike Sekowsky. This Metamorpho volume was one of the earliest in the Showcase Presents series and one of the most entertaining. 

Rip Off

The Hawk And The Dove!

The Hawk and The Dove a collection I've been hankering for as long as I've been collecting trades of vintage comics. This comic was the absolute exquisite product of a singular moment in American history when the nation was torn about wars abroad and the youth culture of the time was demanding accountability and a new way forward. The schism in the society of the day was between those who had long trusted their government to prosecute necessary wars in the defense of the nation and those who felt that the government had violated the trust of the average citizen by pursuing a war by means of deception. The argument waged between the brothers Hall, who are the titular heroes Hawk and Dove was an argument raging in many if not most households across the nation in the day.

Steve Ditko had left behind his co-creation of Spider-Man and found at DC under editor Dick Giordano, at  least momentarily, a haven where he could produce the kinds of politically sensitive stories he craved to present. His Beware The Creeper showcased his long-standing complaint against personal cowardice in the news media and here we see his take on the war debate. He didn't last long on the book, producing only the first three issues (one the Showcase debut issue). Gil Kane with writer Steve Skeates picked up the reins and later Kane himself wrote the stories. This collection even gives us the team's guest-starring appearance in the Teen Titans by Neal Adams and Nick Cardy.

This one is highly recommended and sits on the very tip top of my reading stack.

Rip Off